Silence
by RenYu
Summary: If you truly love someone, will you wait? What if he changes, will you still love him? Did you know he changed because of you? What will you do?


_"Neh, An-chan,who was that you found interesting? Can you give me a clue?" a girl timidly asked her friend._

_"Umm... You're from the same school!" the girl's friend replied with a grin._

"I can't believe that we like the same person..."

**Silence**

_"Looking from afar... in silence…"_

It was noon. The sky was partly cloudy, so it was not that hot. Plus it was windy; it made the atmosphere almost perfect—perfect for eating lunch under a big shady tree with a couple of friends or even observing the people passing by.

Underneath a tree, near the tennis courts, two friends were eating lunch peacefully. Rei was still wondering why her friend, Tsukasa, wanted to eat there, but every time Rei asked her about it, Tsukasa always answered simply "I just want to."

True, it somewhat seemed as if Tsukasa just wanted to eat there, but knowing how mysterious her friend can be, Rei can't help thinking about other possible reasons for it.

+-+

Tsukasa and Rei were second year students of Seishun Gakuen and had been classmates since they were first years. They were close friends, but still kept a secret or two from each other. They never failed to respect each other and accepted each one's shortcomings.

Konomi Tsukasa: Physically, she was tall, and had a healthy body and rather innocent face, usually with an I-don't-care expression. Her yellow ochre hair was always ponytailed with a white ribbon, making her less attractive as many had said, but she wanted it that way. She was referred by most of her classmates as the "good girl"—the type who considered studying much more important than fooling around with guys—but that didn't change the fact that she had a crush on someone. Over all, she was simple.

Iwasaki Rei was Tsukasa's trusted friend. She was a couple inches shorter than Tsukasa and chubby, which made her huggable. She was always smiling and happy, which also made her classmate smile. She had wavy, russet hair that was always ponytailed too. She was also a "good girl," and kept Tsukasa companied, making her less lonely.

+-+

They finished eating and started packing their things. "Neh, can we eat here again tomorrow?" Tsukasa asked her friend.

Rei stopped and an idea came up. "Not unless you tell me the _real_ reason why you want to eat here," she said. Tsukasa didn't say anything, so Rei continued, "So how about it?"

"I told you before I just want to eat here!" the yellow-haired girl countered. "And there are no other reasons."

"Okay, I'll not eat with you tomorrow… Would you like that?"

"Fine. You see… I want to see them practice." Tsukasa flushed.

"_Them?_ Why didn't you tell me that before! We could go there right now! You don't have other things to do, right? Let's go!" Rei stood up and dragged her classmate enthusiastically to the tennis courts. She was too happy about Tsukasa telling her the real reason that she didn't notice her friend blushed. When they arrived, they saw Momoshiro and Fuji having a practice match. Momo caught sight of them and was surprised, hence he wasn't able to return his sempai's shot. The game ended in Fuji's hands.

Fuji took a look and saw the two friends behind the fence. Knowing they were his kouhai's acquaintances, he smiled as Momo rushed to them.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Tsukasa-chan wanted to see you guys practice so I brought her here," the russet-haired girl replied.

"Oh." Momoshiro then turned to Tsukasa and asked her if she had eaten her lunch. Before she could answer, Rei asked him why he asked such question.

"When you were absent, Tsukasa-san forgot to bring her lunch," Momo explained. Then he heard Inui calling him to go back to practice. "I have to go back. See you in class," he said with a smile.

"Let's go back to our room," Tsukasa suggested.

Her friend faced her with shock "But why? I think they're gonna have another set of matches. Don't you like to watch?" she asked.

"I remembered that I have… something else to do," the yellow-haired girl replied in a low voice.

Rei looked at her closely and she saw her face all red. "Why are you—okay, let's go back to the classroom." She must have figured out why Tsukasa blushed.

When they reached their classroom Tsukasa immediately sat down, took out her math notebook, and started scribbling. Rei dragged her seat to her classmate's table and looked at her with curiosity.

"Did he give you anything to eat back then?" the russet-haired girl inquired.

"Uh…Yeah…He gave me a… Spanish bread…" Tsukasa answered, still continuing with her work.

"Oh! That's your favorite bread, right? Looks like he really knew what to give you! Isn't that great?" Rei teased.

Tsukasa twitched but was still able to keep her cool. "Shut up. I'm trying to answer here."

Not long after, the bell rang, signaling the time for afternoon classes. All the students of Class 2-8 were in their seats just before their teacher arrived and started her discussion. When the teacher wasn't looking, Momo passed a piece of paper to Tsukasa who was sitting beside him on the left. She read the message on the paper: _Can we go home together? Nobody will accompany me today since they all have some other business. I'm gonna give you that favorite bread of yours! Please!_

Tsukasa looked at Momoshiro (who was wearing a big smile), with her eyebrow raised in confusion. She then wrote her reply on the same paper and returned it to her porcupine-haired friend while the teacher wasn't looking. Momo took it and immediately read it. "_Can we talk about this for a moment afte__r c__lasses? I don't want to be caught doing this. Okay?" _was the yellow-haired girl's reply. He agreed, looked at her, and gave her a smile with his thumb up, then continued listening to the teacher.

Tsukasa blushed and looked outside the window so he couldn't see it. _"What the he__ck__ was that about? Giving a thumb up? I d__o__n't remember that I already agreed__,__"_ she thought.

Rei, who was sitting behind them, saw what they did and gave off a mischievous smile.

Time flew and the bell rang again, signaling dismissal. The students fled the classrooms for their own appointments. Rei made an excuse that she couldn't go home with Tsukasa and left immediately. It made the yellow-haired girl a bit sad but she didn't mind the feeling. Putting that aside, she set her gaze on Momoshiro who was still packing up his belongings.

"Why do you want us to go home together?" she asked in a cool way, as if suspecting his given reason. "And don't you have practice today?"

Momo faced her as he picked up his bag. "I told you the reason. And about the practice—" He stopped and scratched his head.

"Were you planning to let me wait? Sorry, I have some errands to do." She finished packing and was prepared to leave. "If you finish practice early, then wait for me in front of the music shop across street from your favorite burger joint. If I can't see you there, I'll immediately leave. Is that a deal?"

He grinned and exclaimed, "Yes, ma'am!" then bade goodbye and dashed out before his classmate was able to say anything.

"Oh well." She shrugged and sighed with her cheeks still red. But the question was if he noticed it?

+-+

Momoshiro finished practice, which fortunately ended early—it was for them to somewhat have a break, and rain was reported to fall later that afternoon. He didn't have to make a "believable" excuse. He hurriedly changed and headed out, not providing any opportunity for his teammates to ask why he was in a hurry, so they couldn't do anything about it.

On his way, he was thinking why he suddenly wanted to walk with Tsukasa, and started drawing some possible reasons: "Is it because she helped me with our hard assignment the other day? Is it because she taught me how to solve those math problems? Or is it because I li—what am I thinking—I should hurry and get a Spanish bread!"

The sky was already very dark, ready to pour. Momo double-timed, but nevertheless he didn't forget to buy what he promised—Spanish bread!

It started to drizzle. The violet-eyed lad hurriedly took shelter under the canopy in front of the music shop's door.

"Could she have left?" he asked himself while looking at the drops of water falling down faster from the sky.

Suddenly, he began acting Inui-like again, probably not wanting to believe that Tsukasa could have probably went home ahead. He took one of his notebook with his own "data."

"Basing from this, it's still nine minutes before her usual time for passing by here. And she said that she had some errands to run, so surely there must be a delay. I'm ninety-eight percent sure about that," he calculated. With hope, he decided to wait.

+-+

For quite a while, he kept on waiting and looking around for her. Finally, she did arrive.

"I thought you'd left," Tsukasa said softly. "You are usually impatient."

Momo automatically pulled her out of the rain. "Look at you, you're all wet." Then he also grabbed the bag of groceries from her. "Didn't you bring an umbrella with you?!"

"No, I didn't. I find it tiring carrying it around." Tsukasa felt how tight Momo's grip was on her arm so she sighed, "Ano… can you let go of me?"

"Gomen." He let go of Tsukasa's arm, then examined her from top to bottom to notice that her hair wasn't tied, which was somewhat uncommon for her. That made her look different. "I didn't know your hair was that long and straight," he commented while trying to touch her hair. Tsukasa froze. "And it's soft too."

The yellow-haired girl snapped out of it and replied, "I simply lost my ribbon. That's why it isn't tied right now. And of course you couldn't notice my hair since it's always tied."

"What a waste."

"What?" Tsukasa retorted.

"I mean… Since it's always tied, no one can appreciate your beautiful hair…"

"I…I don't like to draw attention anyways!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I won't argue. But still…" He looked at her more closely.

"You said you wouldn't argue," she pouted.

Momo gave her a smile in return and patted her head. "I said that alright. Now let's get you home before you catch a cold." He then took out his folding umbrella and opened it. "This umbrella might be small, but it will do. Let's go."

"Huh? You mean we'll share? Can't we just wait for the rain to stop? And can you please let me carry what I've bought?" she asked with a little nervousness.

"Like I said, you'll catch a cold if we don't hurry."

"The hell you care."

"Unfortunately, I do and you can't do anything about it."

Tsukasa sighed and twitched. That's right, she couldn't do anything about it, and he's persistent too.

+-+

Momo asked if he could study with Tsukasa at their house while they walked.

"Study at my place?" She made certain of what she heard. "That's why you wanted to walk with me today."

"Sorta. Well, is it okay with you?"

There was a short silence. "Or do you want to copy my assignments?" Tsukasa added while staring at him evilly.

The lad was frightened but still able to give a smile. "No, I just want you to explain. I can't seem to understand our lesson…And…"

His classmate interrupted. She was somewhat distracted. "Momo-kun, since when… when did you change?" she inquired lowly with her rather baffled gaze him. "When?"

He stopped walking and started to think. "Did I change?" he asked himself. "What do you mean by that?"

"Nevermind. Let's hurry and I'll make hot coco too when we arrive." Tsukasa grabbed the violet-eyed lad's arm and suddenly turned bright.

Momo was confused by the sudden change of mood. "What's up with that?" he thought. "That's right, maybe I do like her." He blushed while looking at her with delight. "Maybe I do…" he repeated.

+-+

_Konomi, Tsukasa:_

_I guess he change__d__ because of someone… I don't know… _

_Should I tell him about… how I feel? Gaaah! If __I__ do that—I'm afraid. I'll be out of character if __I__ do that. And there's still the fact that Ann-chan likes him. I don't want to break any friendships…_

_Maybe I should try waiting. And besides, it's kinda fun watching in silence._

+END+

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**Phew! I just finished this story!!!**

**Oh yah! This story is dedicated to my_ "YOUNGEST DAUGHTER", Spica!!!! (I LOVE YOU, ANAK!) _Yahoo! I let her read this first and said she wanted more... too bad, I can't another chap for this since it might become corny and probably horny....joke!  
**

**This story was suppose to be long and a lot more but I was short of time... Stupid classes...**

**Anyways, enjoy.**

**Please do leave you comments, suggestions and critisms.**

**Thank You~**

**Special thanks to my beta!!!  
**

_**(Author is a mom of four daughters in her classroom and one in the next room. She too has a numerous of grandchildren. Right... Now I know how Tamaki Suou feels...haha! I guess...)**_

Next story is yet to come.


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